THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP @ SHAKESPEARE & COMPANY, 3/13/11

by Michael Eck
Special to The Times Union
LENOX, MASS. – Shakespeare & Company has found its secret weapons in Josh Aaron McCabe and Ryan Winkles. The duo has appeared in a number of comedies on the troupe’s Lenox, Mass. campus, and they are currently starring in Kevin G. Coleman’s production of Charles Ludlam’s “The Mystery of Irma Vep.”
The show is on view at the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre through March 27.
McCabe and Winkles have developed a genuine rapport. If they were a couple they could finish each other’s sentences. As a comedy team, they do virtually the same, instinctively knowing how long to milk a beat or stretch a scene.
And the like the best comedy teams, they crack each other up.
One moment at Sunday’s matinee found McCabe bent fully over a love seat trying to hide his laughter while Winkles just kept raising an eyebrow for effect. The audience loved it.
“Irma Vep” is a mad romp in which two actors play all of the roles, As such, it’s custom built for McCabe and Winkles. The stage directions demand that both participants be of the same sex to insure cross-dressing. Given that caveat, is it a surprise that the play is a continuous send-up of horror movie cliches, potboiler tropes and thriller shtick (or that the plot, centered on the windblown Mandacrest Estate, is secondary to the laughter).
It’s as if the “goofs” section of the Internet Movie Database were used as a handbook for playwriting. When the eyepatch worn by McCabe — as the antiquities thief Alcazar — shifts from one eye to the other, it’s not just predictable, it’s hilarious.
Ludlam has a real sense for throwing continuous comedy at the crowd. Double entendres abound. Puns, mispronunciations and spoonerisms fall like rain. And physical bits lurk in the background of every bit.
What’s even better is that the actors are encouraged to improvise and engage the audience. At Sunday’s matinee the very first line of the show was a flip comment from Winkles, directed an overheard audience comment.
Coleman admits in his director’s notes that it took him awhile to “get” the play. It shows, but only in slight ways. This “Vep,” for example, is fast-paced, but not quite manic. And the single Egyptian scene feels a little more tacked on than it normally does. Still, you would have had a devil of a time finding any disappointed fans in Sunday’s fairly full house.
Coleman has also made good use of the fact that the Bernstein lacks a proscenium. Set designer Kristopher Kartsedt has handled the challenges well, and the open design of the venue lets Coleman put the actors right in the seats — leading to some extra rich laughs at certain ticketholders’ expense! (All who had flashlights shined in their faces were good sports, and as the notes promise, no animals are harmed).